J. H. Gakey House

The J.H. Gakey House in Boise, Idaho, is a 2-story brick Bungalow designed by Tourtellotte & Hummel and constructed by Lemon & Doolittle in 1910. The house features a sandstone foundation and a hip roof with attic dormers. Lintels and window sills are trimmed with stone. The house includes a large, cross facade porch with square posts decorated by geometric ornaments below the capitals. The Gakey house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[2][3]

J. H. Gakey House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The J.H. Gakey House in 2019
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Location	1402 Franklin St., Boise, Idaho
Coordinates	43°37′27″N 116°12′19″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1910 (1910)
Built by	Lemon & Doolittle
Architect	Tourtellotte & Hummel
Architectural style	Bungalow/craftsman
MPS	Tourtellotte and Hummel Architecture TR
NRHP reference No.	82000203[1]
Added to NRHP	November 17, 1982

In 1910 the Idaho Statesman described the house as "one of the first of its kind in the city." The newspaper noted wide overhanging eaves to protect second floor windows from direct sunlight, natural ventilation, and air pockets behind the brick veneer to keep the house warm and dry in winter. The house included pieces of built in furniture.[4]

John H. Gakey

John H. Gakey (December 17, 1864--May 8, 1953) arrived in Boise City in 1882, having moved from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Although a resident of Boise, Gakey owned a large sheep ranch near Nampa.[5][6]

Gakey married Martha Elizabeth Baker in Boise in 1886.[5] By 1910, the year of construction of the J.H. Gakey House, Mrs. Gakey was being treated for stomach cancer, and she died of the disease before the Gakeys could occupy their new home.[7] John Gakey never lived in the house, and he sold it to its first occupant, Frank Blackinger, in 1911.[8]

Gakey was remarried in 1918 to Elizabeth Lynch in Boise,[5] and the Gakeys later sold their Nampa ranch and moved to Napa, California, in 1947.[9] John Gakey died in Napa in 1953.[10]

In the early 20th century, a stop on the Boise Interurban Railway, Southern Division, was named "Gakey" in reference to its proximity to the John Gakey ranch near Nampa.[11]

See also

• American Foursquare architecture

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
2. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: J. H. Gakey House". National Park Service. Retrieved March 25, 2019. With accompanying pictures
3. "Handsome New Home". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. September 7, 1910. p. 5.
4. "Handsome Home Is Well Under Construction". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. October 16, 1910. p. 2.
5. History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains. S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1920. p. 496. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
6. John Gakey also may have been a silent partner in a Boise shoe store, Konrad & Gakey, with purchase of the Logan & Walker store in 1901. However, the Idaho Statesman listed G.H. Gakey, not J.H. Gakey, as the silent partner. The newspaper never again referred to G.H. Gakey, and further research is needed. "Shoe Business Passes into New Ownership". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. August 20, 1901. p. 8. Gakey sold the business in 1904 to John and Frank Rader of Kansas, but the Statesman only identified his surname. "Gakey to Rader, $22,000". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. January 1, 1904. p. 11.
7. "Births, Marriages, and Deaths". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. January 4, 1911. p. 3.
8. "Purchase Gakey Home". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. May 2, 1911. p. 3.
9. "Public Sale". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. April 17, 1947. p. 19.
10. "Former Idaho Man, John H. Gakey, 89, Dies in California". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. May 10, 1953. p. 28.
11. "The Boise Valley Loop". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. December 31, 1917. p. 7.

External links

Media related to J.H. Gakey House at Wikimedia Commons